In the last week or so, the American public has learned of Barak Obama's hair-raising plans to initiate a compulsory youth service corps.  Obama proposes to tie federal funding for public schools to whether the school develops such a corps and requires students to contribute 50 service hours per year at the middle school and high school levels and 100 hours per year at the college level.  He also plans to tie tax credits to participation in the youth service corps, which he plans to fund on the scale of the US military. After bloggers raised the alarm over these outrageous encroachments on parental leadership, private charity and limited government, the official Obama website softened its rhetoric from "required" and "compulsory" to "encourage".  However, the financial strings for schools and tax credits remain, indicating that the Obama administration really does mean to strong-arm America into service on Obama's terms and no other. Obama's new Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, goes further, indicating that this youth service corps would become a new "civilian security force" alongside the military.  Young men and women would be required to undergo three months of "basic training", but it's "not a draft"; it's simply a way to beef ...

Back in the middle of the twentieth century, the Left began to talk about "capturing the robes", meaning that they wanted eventually to place men and women from the Left in positions of power and influence - those positions that usually required robes. University professors and academic administrators, judges, pastors, civil magistrates of all levels... It has been fifty or sixty years, and look around.  Education is dominated by politically-correct liberals to the extent that most conservative perspectives are not even allowed in academic discourse.  The civil magistracy is also largely liberal.  In fact, America has just elected not merely a liberal, but a socialist who gives every indication that he wants to overhaul the Constitution itself to suit his agenda.  Even the Church itself has been infiltrated by men who press liberal agendas before Christ's. Christians want to influence their world, but too often we only think in terms of the next election cycle, not in terms of decades and centuries.  We ought to take a lesson from our opponents.  They have spent the last five or six decades training children, grooming young people and getting young adults the credentials they need to be credible candidates for those robes. Ben over ...

This week don't miss a free preview of the new film "Come What May" on GodTube.  It's the pioneer effort of a bunch of high school homeschoolers and recent grads under the direction of George Escobar and a handful of film professionals.  This mentorship approach to practicing the collaborative art of film is producing a community of young people who are not waiting to create an impact on their world. "Come What May" has several distribution offers under consideration, but Advent Film Group is releasing the film for this limited free viewing on GodTube at this time in hopes that it may have an influence on the election.  The film treats the questions of the value of human life and of marriage.  Both are vital considerations in the current election, as the next President will likely have the opportunity to appoint several Supreme Court justices. George Escobar's brainchild, Advent Film Group, is the sort of effort that creates opportunities for youth that match their abilities and harness their passions to their aspirations. The youth who worked on the film passionately believe in its message and aspire to right the wrongs it addresses in powerful ways.  Escobar's vision is exactly the sort of ...

Do high schoolers really do the stuff I recommend in my workshop?  Do they really find time to do major service projects or run their own businesses while keeping up their grades?  And does it pay off? Yes!! Yes! Yes!!!! I'd like to introduce you to this growing column of youth who are not waiting for some magical age or invitation to begin to become productive, to have an impact.  They are siezing the day God has given them today.  These young people are the Carpe Diem Cadre. Meet today's featured member: Jon Chi L His Carpe Diem project is a self-designed website to inform voters about Barack Obama on the eve of what promises to be the most epic election since Ronald Regan. You will be as amazed as I was by the quality of the research, the care to cite mainstream news sources, and the intriguing interactivity of the site.  You can view videos of Obama's flip-flops, take a fact survey, download buttons to share the site with friends, interact with other visitors on a forum, even pray with other Christian voters. Before you dismiss this as the work of a guy about to launch off to college, note this: Jon Chi is ...

Though academics are extremely important, the season of preparation for your young people must include more practical grounding as well. Both college admissions offices and scholarship review boards want students who are more than great minds. By the time our young people launch out, they need to be able to demonstrate to the world that They care about others and have invested themselves in the community They have usable skills which have already been tested They have vision and focus For themselves, our youth need to know that they are competent enough that others will value their work. They need to know that they have marketable skills and that they do not have to be subject to the vagaries of an insane job market. They need work experience – better yet, they need entrepreneurial experience. None of these things has a place in the transcript. In fact, much of what we want our young people to develop in these final critical years before they launch can’t be adequately described or celebrated on a transcript. In short, they need a resume! Tune in on Tuesdays for resume-building ideas and resources.

Time was when summer was a time of feverish activity, the farmers’ busiest season. Formal schooling went to the back burner while young people lent their strength to ensuring that the family could survive the lean season which would follow. As we have become an urban people, the summer break has become a season of self-indulgence rather than a season of productivity. How did our forefathers manage to maintain a higher level of academic achievement, while taking an extended annual break from education per se? Perhaps it’s time for a re-evaluation. According to a celebrated 1996 study, “Summer Learning Loss: The Problem and Some Solutions”, students lose about two months of progress over the summer. Researchers concluded that the learning loss was proportional to the lack of intellectual stimulation of the student during the summer. Students who read during the summer experienced less academic erosion. Interestingly, no attempt was made to assess the impact of work on older student’s academic retention rates. Was the summer break of old a time when no learning occurred? No. Young people essentially received an internship in farm management, horticulture, business, animal husbandry, food preparation and preservation, etc. while working under the mentorship of their ...